Gabe Newell responds to Valve layoff speculation

While Valve talks freely about some aspects of its work, the Steam and Half-Life creator is always tight-lipped about business. However, the flurry of speculation, rumour and doomsaying which sprung from news of layoffs at Valve has provoked a statement from head honcho Gabe Newell. Nothing's being cancelled, he says, and no priorities or projects shuffled, but he won't discuss the layoffs.

While Valve talks freely about some aspects of its work, the Steam and Half-Life creator is always tight-lipped about business. However, the flurry of speculation, rumor and doomsaying which sprung from news of layoffs at Valve has provoked a statement from head honcho Gabe Newell. Nothing's being cancelled, he says, and no priorities or projects shuffled, but he won't discuss the layoffs.

We don't usually talk about personnel matters for a number of reasons. There seems to be an unusual amount of speculation about some recent changes here, so I thought I'd take the unusual step of addressing them. No, we aren't canceling any projects. No, we aren't changing any priorities or projects we've been discussing. No, this isn't about Steam or Linux or hardware or [insert game name here]. We're not going to discuss why anyone in particular is or isn't working here.

Whispers on the wind said around 25 people were laid off, but this was unconfirmed. Valve certainly won't be the one to clear this up, so it'll remain a mystery for now.